Aussie Miner Frames Dad's Tattooed Skin

Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Friday, January 17, 2003

BRISBANE, Australia -- When miner Carl Whittaker wants to remember his late father, he doesn't pull out a photo album Ñ he admires a framed display of his dad's skin, complete with tattoos, hanging in the dining room.

Whittaker's father, Barry, asked for the four tattoos on his back and arms to be removed and preserved following his death from cancer in 1999.

The tattoos Ñ including a large image of an eagle entangled with a snake that once adorned Barry's back Ñ now hang in his son's home.

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"You've got your fors and against, and a lot of people are quite horrified by it all Ñ they look and say 'Oh my God,'" he said Wednesday, as news of the tattoo tribute emerged. "The people that know me just know it was out of respect for my old man, because he ... was my best mate."

Whittaker, who lives in Mackay in northern Queensland state, said his father got the tattoos when he was terminally ill and asked in his will that they be removed and saved after his death.

A taxidermist was employed to remove them and a company agreed to tan the skin.

"I thought it was a bit on the wild side myself," Whittaker said. "But that's what he wanted, and I had a lot of respect for the man, so I did it."

"I suppose it preserves his memory," he added.

Whittaker said his wife did not object, and he hoped to pass the memorial on to his daughter, who is now 15 months old.